So after leaving El Transitó I am off to Granada. For this I have to hitchhike to the highway again. After waiting for an hour a pick up truck is finally showing up. Turns out he is driving half way to Managua, yes Jackpot! We stop at a gas station to eat the classical corn bread of Nicaragua. I help him unload his stuff and he drops me off on this bus station. Yes this is a bigger bus station. Sometimes you wouldn’t even realize there is a bus stop, until you ask people or see them waiting waiting.

The bus arrives and is a bit crowded. I get in. Remember I am still carrying my surfboard with me. I always have to bargain and pay for my surfboard and for my luggage. Then once I arrived in Managua the biggest chaos starts to unsettle. My internet stopped working and I need to find a bus to Granada. Apparently this one leaves from a different station. 20 Taxi drivers start to fight for me while I try to find the bus station. It got really hectic so I just walked a little. I manage to find a bus that leads me to the right bus station. From here I went into the most crowded bus of busses I have seen so far. They put my surfboard together with my backpack on the dashboard of the bus and I was shoved in the back. There was literally no more space for one more human. The situations can often get hectic . A trick I picked up on the road is having a little bit of cash in a different pocket than the wallet. This has several advantages. For instance it gives you ground while negotiating. You can pull it out and say you don’t have more. It gives you more credibility and usually they led it slide. It also hides your location of your wallet to pick pocketers. As I stay in the back I just pray that my backpack is left untouched. So after an uncrutiatingly long journey I finally arrived in Granada. My back is hurting as hell, but I made it and my backpack was left untouched! However poverty is really high in this country and I wouldn’t even blame anyone poor for trying to steal from there. It’s the environment that creates these kinds behaviors. You would probably act the same under these circumstances. That said it is still nice to see that nothing happened and most people are still honest.

I always calculate the estimated travel time like this. I look at google maps for the time it takes with a car. Multiply by 2 for busses and put a safety factor of 1.5 on it. I still overshoot the time every time. I tend to forget the waiting times between busses. In the end you arrive where you want to go. Nothing to stress about because I have the time anyways.

Anyways in Granada I meet Nick again. We went volcano boarding together. We hang out and get some food again. It seems to be the vibe between us. Granada is very beautiful and is an old colonial town. As an European I somewhat find it ironic sometimes. You travel to distant countries to have a look at the culture and you end up looking at churches that have been build by Europeans. A lot of tourism is flocking to the colonial cities. It is even more ironic. Imagine working here as a local and knowing the brutal history of colonialism. In the end you see westerners coming and not working. Just like in the old days. But hey it’s still nice architecture and tourism is also creating an economic opportunity for most locals. So it is probably not as bad as I think.

Honestly there is much to do in Granada. I was just too tired to do anything. I was super sore from surfing and traveling and I needed to write the blog so I got coffee, a massage, wrote and rested. You can visit an active volcano and see the lava. Nick did do the tour and showed me pictures. I regret it a bit that I didn’t go. But then again I saw the Acatenango in Guatemala which was one of my favorite things I saw. The city itself has much to offer as well. Colorful houses fill the streets. Hidden gardens in the inside of shops and cafés. The best parts are always the vibrant markets that sell you everything you need and have some of the more interesting food to offer. In this case I had a plantain burger. So the buns were replaced with fried platanos.

From Granada I head to Popoyo. I take a bus hop in, negotiate the price and off we go. In Rivas I switch busses and then I am almost in Popoyo. There I have to walk for an hour on dirt roads to get to the beach. I recorded a video for friends where I wanted to show the bad sides of traveling. I was in the middle of nowhere with my full luggage and surfboard and needed to walk for an hour. Literally a minute after I send it to friends I got picked up by a motorcycle. I could not stop laughing about this situation. 5 minutes later I send them pictures of the beach. My luck seems to guide me well. I decide to stay for a week for several reasons. I am pretty exhausted and I don’t want to hustle my board around anymore. Heck I just want to surf! So I look up a guy that can repair my surfboard. After texting a few people and asking around I found a guy that will fix it. Remi Saucier, a French Canadian guy, living a few month in Nicaragua. He agrees to fix my board and invites me to a few surf sessions to Santana. I happily agree. Santana is a crazy breaking wave that barrels even on the smallest hint of swell. It is a fast wave and I suck riding it. So much more I can learn!

Turns out Remi is sponsored by Red Bull. Not for surfing though but for fishing. I can’t help but wander what kind of lives some people live. The water here is so damn cold. I end up taking 30 min sessions in the water. Get back to the beach warm up and repeat. I didn’t expect the water to be this cold. Apparently the lake Cocibolca is creating thermal winds. These hit the ocean and create currents that bring the deep sea water to the surface. I never thought I need a wetsuit in the tropics but here I am freezing my nuts of. I surfed a few different spots. The beginners bay is the closest to my accommodation and located at Magnific Rock. As the name suggests here is where all beginners gather to learn surfing. It is a fun longboard wave for semi rest days. While Remi repaired my board I got one of his 10′ longboard to surf beginners bay. It was a fun day and I was not used to such a large longboard. Sometimes I though I could easily make that wave only to realize that the nose is kissing the water already.

Just behind Beginners Bay lies the actual wave of Popoyo, a dreamy wave of an A-Frame. An A-Frame is a wave that breaks on the peak in the middle and then rolls to both sides equally. So in the optimal to surfers are surfing it in opposite directions at the same time. Popoyo is above rocks and reefs though, which caught on the reef after taking a particular wave. The fins of my board let me know immediately. I was stuck for fifteen minutes on the reef. Waiting for each wave to pass. I couldn’t move because I couldn’t see the ground. I couldn’t paddle because it was to shallow. So I had to wait until the set was finished until I could paddle back out again. Nonetheless it was a nice wave. The lineup is really fierce and competitive. In between locals and good surfers I often found myself struggling for a wave. It is a hard pecking order and you need to fight for a wave if you want to surf it. Otherwise another person is taking it. At some point I just gave up and stayed in the inside and caught the smaller ones that were not breaking in the back. The wave is worth it though. You just need to be a little bit more careful where you go on low tide. Above the wave there is a bar where locals and visitors come to watch the spectacle or the sunset with a cool kombucha or beer. The vibe is as usual slow and relaxed.

Rumors are being passed about a Secret Beach party. I decide to book a ticket and go with the roommates of the accommodation. After booking you didn’t get any confirmation so we were all a little bit worried. We first go to a bar and the others start to drink. I haven’t touched a beer in month and the last time I really stayed up late was in Mexico… So I opt for a juice for the beginning. This turns out was the right decision. So Warmy, Robin, Christian and me start to talk. We loose track of time and suddenly we have to hurry and get the bus. It is a chicken bus that takes us to the party. Turns out just showing a screenshot of the payment was enough. I can tell you being sober in this bus was a surreal experience. Loud music blasting. People talking shouting, screaming and singing while we carry on through the dark bush of Nicaragua. After an unknown amount of time we arrive. I didn’t have high expectations but damn, the Techno Set of the DJs was really good. The bass is hammering onto the beach while the wind blows through the hair and the stars shine above us. I get a beer and think to myself maybe a few beers will do the trick. As the evening progressed further I noticed that it will not stay at a few beers. Robin and Christian the absolute two legend just bring more and more beer for the whole group… Damn I can not even keep up with the pace. So I always end up with two beers in my hand… I mean I am not complaining.

Further into the night the wind blows and at some point it started to rain a little. Nobody cared and everyone was even cheering it on. It was warm and the wind and the rain a welcome change. Honestly it just added to the flair of this beach party. It just rained enough to cool you down but never enough to get your t-shirt wet. If that isn’t perfect I don’t know what is. So we take the bus back as Christian proceeds to talk to the whole party. The next morning we take it slow. We sit in a cafe and slurp one Cappuccino after another. We just talk and hang out. Later I see them again. as you just happen to bump into each other.

What a time to be alive! What a good time. I haven’t been partying since month. Most of the time I spend alone so there is no need for beer or going out. I go to bed at 10 p.m. and wake up at 6:30 a.m. Everyone who knows me from home doesn’t believe me because at home I would get up at 8:30 a.m. I like how I can focus on surfing for a while. It is truly a mesmerizing sport that is far more than just a sport. It is being in tune with the winds, the tide and the ocean. You time your day after high and low tide depending on the spot you want to surf. You look at weather patterns, the moon and the swell to determine where you are going. Even if you have horrible sessions. The only thing you will remember are the good waves you got. You often have shitty sessions where the waves are too big, too choppy, too small, too fast. You try to learn and adapt. There are sessions where you are two hours in the water and catch one wave. That is enough to keep you going. Keep on trying. Improving your surfing so you can battle those conditions better. Honestly it is just mesmerizing.